Female Serial Killer Research Paper

Serial killers is a person that kill three or more people in a short amount of time. He or she murder one after another in a similar way with an inactive period between each murder. The motivation for murdering an adult or child is based on psychological gratification. The serial killer is normally an adult white male in his late twenties, who has killed four or more individuals in separate incident with an inactive period between. It is impossible to tell just by looking at a person who will become a serial killer, the traits of some criminals or serial killers appear to be similar most of the time. The types of behaviors

Over the course of one year, from 1989 to 1990, Aileen Wuornos murdered seven men. As one of the first female serial killers, Ms. Wuornos prompted psychologists and criminologists to investigate the reason why women kill serially, as their motives differ from men. Historically, female serial killers murder by poison, which is considered less messy, therefore preferred by women, and their motives are typically financial. Aileen Wuornos murdered her victims with a gun and her motives differ from the norm. Through the application of the ideas of the attachment theory and the life course theory, further exploration into the causes of Aileen Wuornos’ crimes is achieved.

There are many myths that describe, or stereotype a serial killer. You may have heard that serial killers are all dysfunctional loners or that all serial killers are white males. One might also hear that

Statistically, the average serial killer is a white male from a lower-to-middle-class background, usually in his twenties or thirties. Many were physically or emotionally abused by parents. Some were adopted. As children, fledgling serial killers often set fires, torture animals, and wet their beds (these red-flag behaviors are known as the “triad” of symptoms.) Brain injuries are common. Some are very intelligent and have shown great promise as successful professionals. They are also fascinated with the police and authority in general (Scott).

There are many people who choose to do bad things and break the law; however, there are people known as serial killers who take breaking the law and harming others to an unbelievable level. Murder is a very serious crime. Murders happen for many different reasons such as turf wars and drugs for gangs, by having an argument with another person and not being able to control your anger, or murdering because of a troubled past. Serial killers often come from a troubled past and seek some sort of revenge to what happened to them when they were younger. Serial killers are people who murder over and over again. There are many different types of serial killers. There are serial killers who choose to rape their victims, choose victims whom they know, choose victims because they are a different gender, choose their victims because of some fantasy that they have, or some even choose their victims to prevent them from going through what they had to go through as a young teen. There is no set description of what a serial killer looks like or if they are a woman or a man. Women serial killers tend to be more alluring with their crimes. Women tend to choose victims they may know but murder in a less heinous way. However, there are more male serial killers then women. The male serial killers tend to keep to the more violent and heinous murders. Although not all serial killers have something happen to them in order

The mind of a serial killer is not right and is considered a psychopath. This can be caused by brain damage. “After Henry Lee Lucas was convicted, he underwent numerous neurological tests that revealed fairly extensive brain damage. Small contusions indicated a frontal lobe injury, and there was damage to his temporal lobe and pools of spinal fluid at the base of his brain” (Vronsky, 2005). Lucas’s brain damage is just one cause. Another common reason is that the serial killer would of had an abusive childhood. “Traditionally, the answer has been a horrific upbringing. Most serial killers were abused as children, many hideously so.” (Sandi, n.d) This can have a range of different abusive activities. One example would be an abusive mother. The killer’s mother would have abused him therefore making him hate women. That would be an example of how a man killing female serial killer would relate. He would physically abuse the women just like his mother abused him. Another form of abuse is an alcoholic parent. The serial killer would wait outside of a bar and look to see of his potential victims were under the influence. If they were then they would most likely kill the person. A serial killer can also have a euphoric moment. He could see his

Targets Female serial killers, as previously mentioned can manage to stay active twice as long as males, consequently allowing them the ability to rack up more victims. Part of the reason they may be able to stay active so much longer is because they pick victims who are easy to target, as well as pass off as accidental or natural deaths. Most of them also choose to use traditional gender stereotypes to their advantage so they can select targets, get close to them, and conceal the crime.

Also, female murderers often do not engage in the traditional stalking behavior that is found in the phenomenon of serial killing. For female serial killers, the organization of the crime scene displayed characteristics of both organized and disorganized crime. Organized crime scenes are usually the result of intense planning of the crime by the offenders, whereas disorganized crime scenes are the result of spontaneous murders with little planning (Schurman, 2000). Females often have different reasons for committing serial murders than men. These reasons are mainly thought to be instrumental goals, meaning that they would receive something in return for murdering the victim such as insurance

6. Female serial killers are rare, they tend to kill for financial gain and need to have an emotional connection to their victim. On some occasions women have been involved with male serial killers to form a serial killing team.

His dead body was found in the woods near Daytona Beach, Florida, shot with a twenty two caliber rifle. “She ended up shooting six .22 caliber bullets into him” (McDuff 202). This is just one of the many catastrophes performed by a woman serial killer. Serial killers are a problem in the United States, murdering on average 2000 people each year (Indiana University np). “In fact, serial murder in the United States alone makes up more than three-quarters of the estimated world total” (Innes 5). Although women serial killers are not very common, they still have a huge impact on the death toll of innocent victims. In order to understand how woman serial killers operate, it is important to understand their motives, the different classifications

The idea of serial killers and the role they play in our lives has fascinated people since the cases of Jack the Ripper and H.H. Holmes, although serial murderers existed before them. The infamous and mysterious complexities of these cases have puzzled and terrified people for over a century. Perhaps due to the deviant and taboo nature of serial killings, people in our society and others have tried to attribute many reasons for why they occur. In this search for answers, one major scope has been widely left out of the research: the sociological imagination. It is through this method of understanding that I will attempt to explain the development of serial killers and apply theories that explain the frequency of serial killings in our society.

While most of the violent crimes that happens most are them are belongs to men, women have not been the wilting flowers promoted so heartily by Victorian adorers and (right or wrong) often evident in today's society. Before we get into detail about the fascinating phenomenon of the Black Widow, it is worth a brief overview of women's escalating role in the world of violent crime, particularly in the United States.

Countless people, especially, criminologists have researched serial killers since they are fascinating. Many disagree as to what the legal definition of a serial murder, which is, “[t]he unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s), in separate events. (Morton et al. 9). There is certainly not any dispute that there have been both male and female serial killers. Much of the research and documentation is specifically aimed around male serial killers. Overall, there are not large amounts of female serial killers, therefore, there there has not been as much research done about them; yet there are numerous documented cases of female serial killers. Male and female serial killers are alike in some ways; however, they differ in many like their modus operandi (MO.), preferred victim type, and motives.

Countless people especially, criminologist have researched serial killers because they are so fascinating. Many disagree as to what the legal definition of a serial murder, which is, “[t]he unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s), in separate events. (Morton et al. 9). There is certainly not any dispute that there have been both male and female serial killers. Most of the research and documentation is specifically aimed around male serial killers. Over all, there are not a large amount of female serial killers, so there has not been as much research done about them; yet there are numerous documented cases of female serial killers. Male and female serial killers are alike in some ways; however, they differ in many like their modus operandi (MO.), preferred victim type, and motives.

Serial murder is one of the most baffling crimes that occur in the U.S. and all over the world. Knight (2006) defines serial murder as the killing of three or more people over a period of more than 30 days, with a significant cooling-off period. The cooling off period may be weeks, months or even years long. Researchers have proposed various psychological, biological and sociological theories that offer a partial understanding of the nature of serial murder. Some propose that the basis for criminal behavior is a predisposition to violence as well as a mix between environment, personality traits and biological factors. Serial killers are predominantly male. Only 3 percent of serial murders are committed by women (U.S. News and World Report,